A Love so Darkly
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: the moment that he saw her, he'd put a claim on her being knowing that one day, he would take her. And keep her and make her his. This is a semi dark-ish Chad/Ichigo/OC story.
1. Chapter 1

It was raining, the first time that he saw her.

She was standing out on the street corner, in nothing but a thin t-shirt, a pair of dirty and torn jeans- soaked to the bone and shivering from the chilling combination of wind and rain. She must have been new to town, because he'd never seen her before. But oh- how he _wanted_ to. In fact he could vaguely remember thinking that she was the most beautiful creature that he had ever seen before in his life.

And as much as he wanted to go up to her and talk to her, maybe even share his umbrella with her- something had held him back. His own shyness? His insecurities? It was hard to say really.

All he knew was that by the time she finally decided to wander off, he was absolutely smitten.

The second time that he saw her, it was a much closer encounter that took place barely three days after the first. He had been walking home from a gig with his band late Thursday evening when she had staggered right into him, and fell to the ground with a pained sounding whimper.

He froze up.

Not seeming to fully comprehend what had just happened to them both as he stared down at her lying on the ground, clutching her head. He had himself partially convinced that she was a hallucination of some sort and slowly curled his fingers into a tight fist, applying only enough pressure to his palm to let his nails bite into his flesh and draw a little bit of blood.

After that he could have kicked himself for not helping the poor gal up. Honestly he had better manners than to knock a girl down and not even help her up or ask her if she was okay.

However when he finally got around to actually doing those things- she wasn't in any condition to speak much less give him her hand. Sometime during his mental debate with himself, she had seemed to lose consciousness. Which was odd. Well okay maybe it was a little bit more than just odd.

Even someone with a concussion wouldn't lose consciousness that quickly. Which only served to pique his interest in her as he dropped down to one knee beside her and reached out tentatively to touch her and quickly jerked back his hand in alarm at how hot she felt to him.

Dear god!

_She is ill. _He thought as an unnatural fear gripped him as he then quickly collected her up off of the ground and held her tightly against his chest as he ran straight to Ichigo's dad's clinic and almost beat the door down hitting it with his palm until his friend's dad came to see what the ruckus was all about.

Once he saw who was beating on the door, he didn't bother asking anymore questions. The man quickly ushered Chad into his home and had him place the girl on the couch while he went to get some things from the clinic so that he could better treat the girl.

Chad only moved out of the man's way to seat himself in a recliner across from the couch so that he could watch the man work. Something in his mind was nagging at him to stay close by. Even if he didn't really understand what it was or the reasons why he felt that he had to be close to her.

He planted himself and decided to stay put and didn't move so much as a muscle from that point on until Ichigo's dad finally finished up examining her and then asked him if he could carry her upstairs to one of the spare bedrooms.

He didn't say anything, he merely scooped her up and headed up the stairs to find the closest spare room to place her in so that she would be more comfortable while she slept. Upon finding a room, he quickly deposited her on the bed and then slipped her shoes off and tucked her in underneath the bedding and then sat himself down again. This time on the floor next to the bed, and laid his head on his arms and just stared at her.

His warm amber eyes studying her delicate features in the dim light filtering into the room via the window.

He had thought her beautiful the first time that he'd seen her, but here, up close like this- she was absolutely breathtaking with her pale, unblemished ivory colored skin and her mid back length dark hair and soft pink lips that were slightly parted in her sleep.

She had a small nose, and wide soft green eyes lined with thick dark lashes that laid across her cheeks like little crescents that his fingers just_ itched_ to touch.

Which he might have actually done, if not for Ichigo's dad softly knocking on the door and disturbing him. Turning his head to look at the man, he noted that he stood there with a clean pair of clothes in his hands, his expression bemused at what he had just found the teen doing.

He asked him to step out for a minute and give him some time to change her into the clothes in his hands.

Chad said nothing as he gracefully got to his feet and then brushed by the man to go stand out in the hallway and give him some privacy to do his job. When the man was done, he walked back out of the bedroom with the girl's dirty clothing in his hands- and nearly jumped out of his skin when the articles of clothing were quickly snatched out of his hands by the teen.

"Son? I was going to wash those for her," Isshin said as he regarded the teen curiously. Chad merely shook his head slowly as if to tell him that he wouldn't be doing a damned thing as he clutched the clothing in his large hands. Isshin studied him for a moment before sighing and muttering, "Alright, son. I'm assuming that you intend to stay over to keep an eye on her." It wasn't a question. And even if it was, all he got from the teen was a curt nod. Resisting the urge to roll his eyes at the teen, Isshin then said, "Very well. I'll leave you to...you're googly-eye making. I'll let Ichigo and Yuzu know about you in the morning so that you can join us for breakfast if you want." And with that, Ichigo's dad turned and walked off.

Once he was gone, Chad slipped back into the room to resume his vigil.

Setting the bundle of clothes on the small table beside the bed, Chad took a moment to look the girl over, and frowned when he saw that she had been left uncovered after she had been changed. Huffing slightly, he reached out and grabbed the covers and started to pull them up over her when a weird thought hit him.

_Body heat._

Body heat might help her more than the covers ever could. And he was practically a furnace compared to others. His large body usually had a normal temperature of at least a hundred degrees year round. So...maybe if he were to lie down with her and share his body heat with her- maybe she would get better faster?

He wasn't sure if that was right or not, but he had already made up his mind once the thought hit him. And it wasn't as if he would really be hurting anything. _Hopefully_.

Slipping off his shoes, he made sure to kick them aside so that they would be out of the way and wouldn't cause any accidents unintentionally and then grabbed his shirt and pulled it up over his head and then laid it down on the table and then slowly, very slowly so as not to disturb her any- Chad crawled into the bed and awkwardly stretched out next to her and then hesitated for a moment wondering if maybe touching her would be taking things too far. But then again, body heat wouldn't work unless he did.

It wasn't as if he were going to do anything..._sordid_ to her. She was in no condition to consent to anything, much less try to fight him off.

But he couldn't disguise the shudder of utter _longing_ that went through him as he carefully wrapped his arms around her and pulled her body flush against his own and then stilled as she let out a small whimper and squirmed until she was back in a comfortable position before settling down again.

Sighing in contentment as he lowered his head to bury his face in her sweet scented hair, he uttered an endearment in his native language. _Carino._ His sweet little darling. He thought to himself as he slowly closed his eyes and let himself drift a little bit since he doubted that he would be getting much rest for the next few days or so.

He'd have to talk to Ichigo and his dad about staying over until his _carino_ was well enough to leave to go home.


	2. Chapter 2

Chad was awakened the next morning by the bedroom door opening and the near silent footsteps of his close friend Ichigo, slipping into the room to see what he was doing and then stumbling and almost falling on his face when he caught sight of him lying in the bed with his arms around the girl.

Chad cracked an eye open to look at him, and snorted softly when he noted the perplexed expression on Ichigo's face. "Morning...Ichigo." Chad murmured in a low rumbling tone that sounded as if it vibrated in his chest.

"Uh...m-morning..." Ichigo said after a moment or so before then frowning and asking, "I know that I'm probably not going to get an answer or anything, but I feel the insane need to ask- Why are you wrapped around my dad's patient like that? And more importantly, why are you not wearing you're shirt?" Ichigo asked as he located Chat's shirt on the table next to the bed and flat out scowled before then demanding to know if chad was wearing his pants.

And then he practically whined for a moment. "_Dear god- please be wearing pants._" Chad had to bite he inside of his cheek to keep from laughing at his friend as the idea to toy with him a little bit struck him. If he were a mean person, he would use his toes to pull one of his pants legs up and then make like he was going to get out of bed and show Ichigo his bare leg first.

He was betting that the smaller teen's reaction to his bare leg would cause him to scream and quickly scurry from the room. And as funny as that would be- with his little one still resting, it would be cruel to cause such a commotion and wake her. So he squashed the urge and simply made a humming sound in response to Ichigo's questions as the teen then asked, "Is my dad aware of your...cuddling problem?"

"I'm sure that he suspects." Chad replied as Ichigo made an 'O' with his mouth and then nodded his head in acceptance.

"Alright," He sighed as he reached up and ran his blunt fingernails through his short spiky hair. "If he suspects then he isn't very likely to get pissed at you for..." His warm amber eyes flickered to the girl in Chad's arms and he scrunched up his nose and muttered. "_Cuddling_."

Chad hummed again and moved one of his hands to gently tangle his fingers in his little one's hair, the action didn't go unnoticed by Ichigo. Though it did seem to make him a tad bit more curious since he pulled up the seat that had been resting against the far wall and set it down beside the bed and settled himself into it and folded his arms across his chest.

"What's her name?" He asked in a soft tone, not wanting to disturb her rest.

"I haven't had a chance to ask her her name yet." Chad muttered. His tone somewhat sullen causing Ichigo to frown a little bit before holding up a finger and then moving over to the table where her clothes were, underneath Chad's shirt and quickly went through her pant's pockets for some form of ID and made a small sound of triumph when he found and pulled out a wallet and held it up for Chad to see.

"Let me see here," Ichigo said as he reseated himself and flipped the wallet open and began to scan through the contents curiously. "Here it is. Haruka Yuki- nice name- She is sixteen years old. Was born March the fifth. Blood type AB positive. Weighs one hundred and fifteen pounds, her height is five foot twelve inches... And that's all I can see here," He flipped the wallet closed and then set it back down on the pile of clothing and then asked, "Did that help you any?"

"She has a nice name."

Ichigo smiled at him. "Yeah, she does."

Chad was quiet for a heartbeat or two before slowly saying, "I want to keep her Ichigo."

The orange haired teen studied him for a moment, his smile never leaving his face, though it did change a little bit into something a little bit more devious. "Is that so?" He asked, wondering what exactly could have brought this about. Sure he knew that Chad liked cute things and didn't have very many friends aside from himself, Uryu, Orihime, Rukia and maybe a few other Soul Reapers- but he'd never shown any interest in a girl simply because she was a _girl_ before.

And to want to keep the first one that caught his attention... It was, just a tad bit suspicious to him. Then again, Chad did seem to be pretty attached to her. He wouldn't have crawled into bed with her half dressed for any other reason.

Absently reaching out, Ichigo picked up a strand of the Haruka's silken hair and wound it around his index finger and then asked, "In what capacity?"

"I want her to be mine the same way that you are. But at the same time, different too."

Ichigo let the strand of hair slip from his grasp and blinked at Chad as he tried to think what he meant specifically. It was no secret that he and Chad were blood brothers and close friends. Nor was it really a secret that the two of them sometimes fooled around after a fight.

The need to work out some of the pent up aggression made for some great sex. But...that didn't really mean anything. It wasn't as if they were exclusively dating or anything. Chad was far too selective about who he got close too. And for many, many good reasons.

One of which was the fact that he was violence personified. Everything about his height, his muscular build, to his sharp canine teeth and personality all practically screamed out, _Predator, predator, threat, threat! _To any and all who didn't know him.

Because of these things, as well as his supernatural abilities- getting close to an ordinary human was difficult. Very difficult. Even Ichigo had begun to wonder if he'd ever find someone to be with out side of his Soul Reaper friends. It was a fact that he had been lamenting about lately since he was actually starting to show interest in the opposite sex.

"And how long do you want to keep her Chad?" Ichigo finally asked after being silent for several minutes. "You know that we can't get attached to people short term. And if she belongs to you- then she'll belong to me too. Can you live with that? Even if I monopolize her from time to time?"

The words could have meant just about anything ranging from_, I might want to hang out with her._ To _I may drop by_ _sometimes to fuck her._

It was difficult to say with Ichigo. So Chad decided to make things perfectly clear.

"_She's mine_. You don't touch her unless she wants you to and she's comfortable with being shared between us. And if you do, I want to be present. I want to watch you fuck her into my mattress."

Ichigo blinked at him and then gave him a slow smile. "Deal. Now move over a bit. It's still early and I haven't slept much." Chad made a soft chuckling sound as Ichigo carefully crawled into bed on the other side of Haruka and curled himself around her so that she was sandwiched between the two of them and lay his head on Chad's arm and tucked the girl's head underneath his chin and winked at his friend in a teasing manner before closing his eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

Over the next few days, both Chad and Ichigo alternated between watching over Haruka and sleeping beside her and their usual daily duties. Since it was summer, the two teens didn't have any school. Though Chad did have a well paying job playing at local bars and such with his band and had to leave from time to time to do that.

Leaving Ichigo to take care of his girl until he came back.

The only reason that Ichigo had at all for leaving her for while she was still sick, was to kill hollows. And even that didn't happen often thanks entirely to the new Soul Reaper assigned to Karakura town. Not during the day at least. But at night was a different matter entirely.

Once the sun set, Ichigo would drop whatever he was doing- no matter how _important_ it was to him- and take a moment or so to kiss Chad and Haruka on the cheek or the forehead and then change into a Soul Reaper and then leave the house to do his job.

The first time that Chad saw him do so, he couldn't help but notice how reluctant and resigned Ichigo seemed. But then he couldn't really blame him for feeling those things.

Ichigo had been the substitute Soul Reaper of their hometown for almost three in a half years now, and his enthusiasm for the job- no matter how much he liked being of help- had died a swift death in the wake of the _horrors_ that he had been exposed too.

And while he probably wouldn't give up the job anytime soon because he often worried about what could happen to his family and friends, Chad knew that Ichigo simply wanted to go back to his normal human life and never have to become a Soul Reaper again.

The weight of the burden and responsibilities place upon his shoulders, was beginning to break the teen down. Chad knew almost as well as Ichigo did that a day would come- probably sooner rather than later- where Ichigo would either walk away from the job in it's entirety. Or he would have to fight for his sanity.

And Chad feared that if he did have to fight for his sanity; that it was a fight that Ichigo may very well _lose_.

The moment that Ichigo was gone, Chad felt the nearly overwhelming urge to go after him however one look at Haruka- who was _helpless_ and oh-so-very_ vulnerable_\- stopped him cold. In all honesty he felt torn. His protective instincts tugging him in different directions all at once.

On one hand, he wanted to go after and keep an eye on Ichigo.

And on the other, he couldn't just up and leave his _carino_.

He knew very well that Ichigo could take care of himself and that he most likely had Uryu or another Soul Reaper watching his back, but... It didn't make not going after him any easier. He was his blood brother after all.

He was familia.

His family.

And it was difficult for someone like _him_ to ignore his family.

Sighing, Chad settled back against the headboard of the bed with Haruka sitting in his lap. He'd decided that he wanted to sit up for a little bit with her so that he could read one of the books that Ichigo had given to him earlier to alleviate his boredom a little bit.

As patient as he tended to often be with others, even Chad could get bored with something if he didn't have enough mental stimulation. Not that he was bored or anything with Haruka. It was just...sitting still for so long with nothing to do or converse with tended to wear on him a little bit.

He could take it when he was with Ichigo doing missions for the Soul society and such. But just sitting down for long periods of time with no one to talk to in his daily life was just_ irksome_.

So to help him out, Ichigo had hooked him up with a portable CD player some CD's. And a book or two. Not the small ones either. The one that he was presently reading was probably Ichigo's twisted idea of a joke.

It was nearly as thick as an encyclopedia and chocked full of interesting- and gross. Like really, _really_ gross- pieces of information on various but useful things. Or at least that was what he _would_ have been thinking if not for the fact that Ichigo had handed him a medical text on the miracle of pregnancy and birth.

Which was, again, interesting as much as it was informative and gross. He'd been tempted to ask Ichigo if he'd known that there were really disturbing pictures in the damned thing.

However since opening the book nearly an hour earlier, Chad had resorted to throwing the stupid thing across the room whenever he reached a particularly stomach turning page. Which had elicited several peals of near hysterical laughter from Ichigo as he went to fetch it and hand it back to him. Which probably meant that he had known about the pictures.

Because he was a jerk just as much as he was a sadist.

But now that Ichigo was off doing...Reaper things, Chad couldn't afford to toss the book across the room anymore. So instead when he reached something gross and disturbing to him, he would instead close the book as quickly as he could. Glower at the far wall for several heartbeats and then reopen and read the damned thing again while silently vowing to make Ichigo sleep on the fucking floor if he had anything closely resembling a nightmare about the things he'd already read over.

As far as he was concerned, there was absolutely no excuse for the miracle of birth not remaining an utter mystery to him. I mean, really. He was young. He had _time_ to figure the shit out.

Hopefully before he knocked Haruka up, but still...he point stood.

Glancing down at Haruka, he noted that her head was lying at an awkward angle against his bicep and placed the book down on the bed next to his thigh and then reached up to adjust her head so that she would be more comfortable when all of a sudden she started to stir a little bit and her eyes fluttered open for a moment and locked with his own.

He froze as his heart leapt into his throat and waited for several moments as she looked away from him to scan her surroundings, a small frown marring her pretty face as she did so before her eyes locked back onto him and she rasped, "Who?"

He answered automatically, giving her his name and then telling her where she was so that she wouldn't be afraid. Because she was. She may not show it at the moment due to her disorientation. But it was still there. And she needed to know that she was safe.

She seemed to accept his word, though he knew that if she was new to the area then she likely didn't know much about the Kurosaki clinic or anything. Either that or she simply didn't have the energy to argue or fight him about it.

It was probably the latter.

Her next question was, how. How did she get there? Because apparently he didn't leave much of a lasting impression when he accidentally knocked sick girl's down and watched them pass out. So he told her that he had carried her to the clinic and got the resident doctor to check her out.

She merely nodded her head tiredly and then uttered a soft 'thanks' and then was asleep again.

Chad remained silent after that, afraid that since she had just woken up- he would disturb her if he made any noise at all. Carefully he shifted his hold on her so that she was lying against his torso from between his legs, hoping that the position would be more comfortable for her since she was resting again.

He did however notice when he shifted her position that her skin didn't feel as warm as it had for the past few days. In fact, she felt almost...normal to the touch. Which was a good sign that she was finally getting better.

But it also vexed him a little bit since the moment that she was strong enough, she would be leaving to return home. And after this...he wasn't all that sure that he liked that very much.

She'd be out of his sight. And Ichigo's too. And the world was dangerous place for pretty girls. How would he know if she got hurt?

He'd have to speak with Ichigo about this and see if he could help him come up with something long term that would allow them both to keep track of her at all times.

Glancing towards the bedroom door, the off thought of wondering how Isshin would react if he and Ichigo turned the room into a dungeon of some sort to hold Haruka in, hit him pretty hard. But even he knew that that was no way to treat his carino.

So, _again_, it was something that he'd have to speak to Ichigo about.


	4. Chapter 4

Ichigo returned to the house in the early morning hours to find Chad still wide awake in the darkened, moonlit room. The bigger teen was currently occupying Ichigo's chair and had a grim look on his face that didn't bode well for whoever had put that look there.

"What happened?" Ichigo asked in a worried tone as he slipped quietly into the house via the window and quickly changed back to normal and then moved to squat down in front of Chad since he hadn't answered him just yet.

"Haruka's fever finally broke."

"Really?" Ichigo asked as he looked away from his friend to glance at their girl. Sure enough, she looked considerably better than she had over the past few days. Her color was better, she was breathing easier. She even looked...cleaner. Her clothing was different too.

"She woke up twice. The first time was about an hour or so after you left. The second time she woke up, you're dad had come up to bring me some food and check on her. She asked if she could have a bath, and after that she ate something and then she lay back down. She's been sleeping ever since. You're dad mentioned her going home in the morning if she was feeling strong enough to do so."

Ichigo frowned, not really understand why Chad seemed so bothered by this. After all, the last time he checked, getting over a sickness was a good thing. Right? So why was Chad acting as if it were suddenly the end of the world? He wondered when Chad suddenly said, "Something could happen to her when she leaves here... She could get hurt. Kidnapped, raped-"

_Ah_, now Ichigo understood the problem. Chad was rambling at this point. Going on and on about all the horrifying and terrible things that could happen to her the moment that she was out of their sight. And Ichigo had to resist the urge to give him a Cheshire grin and tell him that the problem was already taken care of.

However he got the feeling that Chad already knew due to his odd silence. The teen abruptly stopped rambling and gave him an odd calculating look.

"You did something." It wasn't a question. Merely a statement of fact that had Ichigo nearly unable to contain himself any longer.

"She has a new place. In the same building that you live in. Right next door to you. If she asks what happened, we simply say that the police came by at some point while she was sick to let her know that her home was broken into, and her former landlord was a dick and threw her out for the damages." Was all that he could think to say to alleviate some of Chad's worry.

Chad's reaction to hearing this was to grab Ichigo and pull his face in close so that he could give him a hungry kiss that left the smaller teen panting and slightly shaky once he was released.

"I take it that you're happy?" He felt the weird urge to ask. Chad answered him with a rumbling growl that went straight to Ichigo's groin. The sound was _beyond_ happy. It was want and need and lust all wrapped into one and because of it, Ichigo would need to go take a cold shower now.

"Thank you." Chad finally said as he watched Ichigo sit there on the floor between his legs, trying to catch his breathe for several moments.

Ichigo gave him a smile and then slowly got up off of the floor and muttered, "No problem big guy. I love making you happy." And then slowly ambled off to...take care of the sizable bulge in his pants.

Once he was gone, Chad turned his attention back to Haruka and smiled in the dark. His mind already going over some future plans to get closer to her.

* * *

The next morning Chad and Ichigo ambled down the stairs for breakfast. Neither teen had bothered to stay in the room with Haruka last night since her fever had finally broken. And they hadn't wanted to disturb her any. Especially since they still needed to talk some things out.

So they had both retreated to Ichigo's room and spent another hour or so talking before finally falling asleep on each other. Not that Chad was complaining any.

Ichigo was by far one of his most favorite people to curl up with. Aside from the time he'd spent sleeping next to Haruka, he had never slept so soundly. Which was really saying something given how much of a wiggler and a squirmer Ichigo was whenever he was asleep.

The guy was always moving._ Always_.

It was almost as if he simply couldn't get comfortable once he laid down. Which was probably due to any injuries that he _may_ have sustained during his Soul Reaper work. Though it did give Chad a pretty good excuse to force him to stop moving around if he bothered him too much.

And the two of them always_ liked_ that. Though Ichigo usually wound up sporting some bruises on his hips and a few bite marks along his neck, shoulders and collarbone.

Last night hadn't been any different than any other time Ichigo wiggled and squirmed too much while trying to sleep next to Chad. Sure he'd been too tired to actually have sex, but that was alright since Chad never pushed for it. He did however take care of the smaller teen until he was so worn out that he passed out from Chad's ministrations.

His mind on full sensory overload, his body humming with such toe curling pleasure that he'd slept pretty soundly after he finally passed out. Which was a huge stroke to Chad's ego since he liked knowing that he could take such good care of his friend.

"Do you think we should check on Haruka?" Chad asked curiously. Ichigo hummed and flaired his energy for a moment as he looked away from him to hide the fact that his eyes changed from warm amber to vivid golden yellow for a second before he replied.

"No. She isn't in the bedroom anyways."

Chad didn't bother asking him where she was if she wasn't in the bedroom. After all, Ichigo would say something if she were gone from the house. Which meant that she was either bathing again, or somewhere else in the house.

Walking into the dinning room to join the rest of Ichigo's family for breakfast, the two paused in the doorway to the room upon seeing their girl sitting at the table with his youngest sister, Yuzu playing with her hair.

Huffing softly, Ichigo rolled his eyes at Yuzu's antics and decided to intervene to save their poor girl from having her beautiful hair put up into pig tails. "Yuzu, what are you doing to her?" Ichigo asked as they slowly entered the room.

Yuzu, and Haruka's heads both snapped around to face them automatically upon hearing his voice. Yuzu brimming with excitement and Haruka….resigned patience. _Weird_.

"Ichigo-nii! I asked Haruka if I could play with her hair cause it needed to be brushed pretty badly," She said, missing the fetching soft pink flush of embarrassment that colored the older girl's face. "And then once I brushed it out for her I decided to try styling for her! Don't you think she'd look cute with her hair up in pig tails?" She asked as she quickly gathered up some of Haruka's hair in both of her hands and held it up to look like pig tails as he looked at them both.

His mind already warning him that Yuzu had asked him a loaded question as he then bit his bottom lip and cast a slant eyed look in Chad's direction and damned near lost it at the look on his friend's face.

The words 'loaded question' suddenly took on a very literal meaning for Chad when he got all kinds of dirty, filthy, x-rated thoughts that nearly gave him a nosebleed. Hearing a weird choking sound from Ichigo, he gave the smaller boy a oddly helpless look. Silently beseeching him for help.

Ichigo snorted and made a choking sound to hide a laugh, and quickly told Yuzu to put Haruka's hair down and leave it alone. His sister whined and gave him a dejected look. But did as he said and moved away from her with a heavy sigh to go and get the food to finish laying it out on the table as the two boy seated themselves.

"Sorry about her," Ichigo said softly. Haruka glanced at him and simply nodded her head to show him that she didn't mind. "So...uh... A-Are you feeling a bit better today?"

"A little bit." Haruka replied. Her tone was soft, and breathy. And elicited all kinds of dirty thoughts in the two boys. Ichigo cast a odd look towards Chad and grinned evilly when he noticed how stiffly he was sitting in his chair. _Poor guy_, he thought in amusement.

Between envisioning Haruka with pig tails and hearing her breathy sounding voice, Chad probably had a huge raging hardon at the moment. Ichigo himself was having some issues.

Though his hormones weren't nearly as uncontrolled as Chad's were. If this kept on, Ichigo would have to take his friend aside and help him with his problem before things got out of hand.

"So..has dad told you when you'd be heading back home yet?" Ichigo asked, trying to make idle conversation without raising suspicion.

"Hn. After breakfast, if I'm up to it."

"That's good. Have you had a chance to call you're family yet and let them know that you're okay?" He didn't ask the question to be a jerk. Really he didn't. But even his dad had mentioned a few days ago that it was just a little bit _odd_ that she hadn't been reported missing, no police had come by to ask questions, and no one seemed to be looking for her.

So the information prove useful sometime in the near future.

"My family is dead...with the exception of my elderly grandparents but- They sort of lost touch with reality years ago."

Ichigo blinked at her response to his question as Yuzu walked back into the room with some of the food and laid it out in front of them as she asked curiously, "What do you mean when you say that you're grandparent have 'lost touch with reality'?"

"It means that they're in the last years of their lives and are no longer able to remember me, our family bond nor much of anything else."

"Oh... I'm sorry." Yuzu said as she looked down for a moment.

Haruka waved her apology off. "Don't be, squirt. Mam and Pap have both lived very long lives. One last bit of nostalgia before the end isn't such a terrible thing. At least it gives them a chance to relive some of their happier moments."

"B-But what if they can't take care of themselves?!"

"They're fine. Even I'm not so irresponsible as to leave them alone. Just what kind of _monster_ do you take me for anyways?" She said in a slightly teasing tone as she reached out and lightly pinched one of Yuzu's cheeks before then letting her go and tacking on, " Pap had me place them both in a local retirement home with twenty four hour care about five months ago. He picked the place out before he completely lost touch with reality himself. And the place that he picked for them both is really nice. I can go and see them whenever I want, day or night."

"O-Oh... That sounds- nice. Do you go and see them often?"

"Well I went to see them two days before I got sick. And I usually go at least two or three days a week. Mam is currently going through her second childhood and has reverted to an energetic, hair braiding woman-child. She wanted to have a slumber party the last time I went. So that's what we did. Pap even pitched in with a pillow and blanket fort."

Yuzu was quiet for a moment before then saying, "They both sound really nice."

"They are," Haruka agreed with a slight nod. Her lips curved into a small smile. "They're both the coolest."

During breakfast, Yuzu decided to hang around and ask Haruka more stuff. Which was both a little bit of a blessing and a curse since it was a good way to gather information on her and because Yuzu's presence made it difficult for either boy to say much of anything, let alone bond with her.

Turns out that Haruka was a well spring of knowledge, habits and eccentricities.

Her manner of speech shifted back and forth between how she had spoken before to slightly accented with a southern drawl. And when Yuzu had asked her about it, the older girl had just grinned a mischievous little grin and simply said that she'd lived in the U.S. for a time as a little kid.

Somewhere in the south, which was why she had a little bit of an accent.

And then she'd gone on to tell his sister some entertaining tales about those days. Which, Ichigo would admit, was somewhat funny to hear. Especially the stories about how she had made friends. Apparently when she was younger and living abroad, she hadn't had a lot of friends.

She'd been bullied and injured on several occasions until her mom had thought to send her to a birthday party at some 'popular' girl's house.

_Which. Had. Not. Ended. Well. _In both Ichigo's and Chad's opinion.

Haruka mentioned overhearing the birthday girl whining about her presence ruining her party to her mother. And how it had hurt her feelings a little bit.

So before she had left, when she had gone to thank the birthday girl for letting her go to the party- she had taken the present that she had brought- and unceremoniously _ripped_ the toy's head off. And then handed it to the gaping brat and told her that she wouldn't want to be her friend even if she was the last person on earth.

And then she told her about the second birthday party that she had gone to.

It ended much better than the first one did. Because by the time she had left that kid's house- she'd had a new best friend/partner in crime and she had been adopted by the girl's mom.

He official title from her friend Robin was she was her sister-cousin-friend thing. Which was both confusing and more than a little bit funny.

Especially since Yuzu asked her why her friend dubbed her that.

Haruka had merely shrugged her shoulders and said that Robin had needed the wiggle room to work with. She had then explained that she had tended to get into a _lot_ of trouble as a kid, so Robin had needed the extra titles to demote her and promote her to.

This of course had caused them all to just stare at her a little bit before Yuzu had them moved on to asking her if she had a job for the summer. Haruka had just told the girl that she worked when it was necessary and mostly just looked in on her grandparents.

"So...you don't have a job then?" Yuzu asked in confusion.

"I do and I don't."

"What does that even mean?"

"It means, that I'm my own boss and work as much or as little as I want to."

"But what do you do?"

"A little bit of this and that." Haruka said cryptically as she watched the younger girl's expression. Yuzu growled at her in frustration and then huffed.

"That doesn't tell me anything." She finally said after a moment or two.

"Why so interested in whether or not I work anyways?" Haruka asked curiously as she pushed her still semi full plate of food aside. Ichgio had to reach over and squeeze Chad's upper leg in his hand to keep the other teen from growling in irritation at their girl not eating like she should.

"Oh. Well it's summer time and you're about Ichigo-nii's age...so I was wondering if you getting sick would cause you any problems if you did work. We've had a few people come through here off and on that had jobs, but lost them because they weren't well." Yuzu explained.

"Ah," Haruka said before then tacking on. "No. No trouble here. Since I make up my own hours and stuff, then my disappearing for a little while for health reasons shouldn't matter overly much. Besides, I'm sure that robin's notice that I'm gone by now and has already picked up the slack. I'll have to get something nice to thank her with later."

"Robin works for you?"

"Sort of. She's kind of like me," Haruka said with a shrug. "She decided to be her own boss too. So she has her own business to run and sometimes gets bored enough to check mine out and see if I need help. So I made her my Co. CEO."

"But...what if she does a terrible job?"

"She doesn't. Again, she's sort of like me- she tends to excel in everything that she decides to do."

"That still doesn't tell me what you do."

"We're back to that again, huh. Did it ever occur to you that I haven't told you because I'm_ uncomfortable_ with doing so?" Haruka said as she propped her chin in her hand and stared at Yuzu.

"Well no... A-Are you uncomfortable with talking about it?"

"A bit, yeah."

"Oh. I-I'm sorry." Yuzu said with an embarrassed flush. Haruka just hummed and then reached out and placed her hand on the girl's hair and ruffled it.

"It's not a problem kid. You're curious. That's natural for someone your age."

Yuzu giggled before stating, "You sound just like Ichigo-nii!"

Haruka flinched a little bit at her words and quickly dropped her hand away from her and forced a smile as she subconsciously fisted her hand tightly on the table top before saying, "Is that so?"

"Yes. Ichigo is always saying things like that too."

Haruka didn't say anything more for a little bit, she just smiled and started to pick at her food until she decided that it was time for her to go home. Yuzu whined a little bit but smiled and ran off once she thanked her for the food. Even if she hadn't eaten much of it- she still appreciated the home cooked meal.

Once Yuzu was gone, she turned to Ichigo and Chad and politely thanked them and then headed for the door after asking if she should wait and talk to the doctor about her bill, only to have Ichigo wave her off and tell her that it wasn't necessary since he very much doubted that his dad would charge her for any treatment.

It wasn't like the over the counter meds he'd given her were expensive or anything.

She merely looked at him for a moment and then hummed before thanking them again and then heading for the door as Ichigo turned to Chad and motioned with his head for his friend to come with him and then headed towards the door themselves.

Apparently to follow her and make sure that everything fell neatly into place.


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey Haruka! Hold up!" Ichigo called out as the two of them jogged after their girl. She had covered a good amount of ground pretty quickly since leaving Ichigo's home and had somehow managed to get nearly a half mile away with the two of them following her before Ichigo had gradually sped up his pace.

Chad had mirrored his speed and before long he realized that Ichigo wanted to give the illusion of them running after her. A sly smile curved his lips in amusement as their girl came to a stop and then turned to look at them, her expression wary/questioning as the two of them 'finally' caught up to her.

"Hey, sorry- I meant to ask you before you left if Chad and I could walk you home. Just in case you might have overestimated you're strength a little bit." Ichigo mock panted, still trying to give the illusion of having run after her.

Girls were usually suckers for stuff like this. So the two had no real reason to think that Haruka would be any different. But the longer that wary/questioning look stayed on her face, the more and more nervous the two become since they didn't like the idea of their girl being wary or frightened of them.

"I see no reason why you can't." Haruka slowly said after a moment or so of weighing the pros and cons of letting them walk with her.

Ichigo beamed at her and then moved to walk on one side of her while Chad moved to walk on the other side of her.

"So...are you anxious to get home?" Ichigo asked, wanted to try and make some small talk and gather more information on her for future use.

"A little bit," Haruka said. "I'm a little bit worried about work. And I'm already feeling a little bit tired."

"Oh? Then I guess it's a good thing that we showed up when we did. If you want to take a break from walking, Chad or I could carry you-"

"No thanks," She shut his suggestion down so quickly that it almost made his head spin. Even Chad was just slightly annoyed with her for turning his suggestion. Though neither of them showed it as she then said. "No offense or anything. But I'm not a little kid. And as much as I appreciate the offer, I'll walk. If I get tired or something, then I'll find a place to sit until I feel better."

Ichigo hummed and got a thoughtful expression on his face before then saying, "You're...very independent. Aren't you?"

"Well...I kind of have to be. I don't have very many people that I can go to for help when I need it."

"Oh? Do you need help with things often?" Ichigo asked curiously, a calculating look flitted across his expression for a moment before he quickly masked it so as not to let her see it and become alarmed.

"Not really. I can usually tackle most of my problems myself. But there are some occasions that I do need help. I just..._try_ not to let those times bother me. Besides, I've been working on fixing the issues."

Ichigo smiled. "That's nice."

She hummed but didn't say anything else on the subject as Ichigo then decided to ask some more personal stuff. Nothing too personal like a sex fantasy or anything- thought he supposed that that would be neat to talk about- merely...easy stuff. Like her favorite color, food, movie, music, book ect.

Her favorite color was a toss-up between blue, teal, mint green, turquoise and black. Her favorite food was pizza though she liked salads and fruit too. Her favorite movie was between House on Haunted Hill- the remake- Silent hill, Into the Storm, Twister, and Ghost Ship. She mentioned a few action movies too. Though neither boy had really heard of any of them.

From the way that she mentioned one of the movie_ Unstoppable_\- it must have been really something. She talked about it for nearly ten minutes straight before realizing that she was rambling and slowly letting her one sided conversation about the movie die.

She blushed a little bit when Ichigo laughed and pointed out how cute she was when she was enthusiastic about something. But it wasn't until she mentioned that the movie was based on a true story of a runaway train and the heroic men and women that had done what they could to stop it, that they really understood why she was so taken with it.

Her favorite music, went unanswered since she didn't feel like sharing the information. Though she did tell them that her all time favorite book was called, The Thief of Always. It was apparently written by the guy that had written the Hellraiser movies and was a collector's item that she'd had since she was nine.

Once she finally stopped talking about it, Ichigo then asked her what her favorite clothing style was. Which earned him an...well, odd look. But since he and Chad really wanted to know she simply told them that she liked baggy and non flattering clothing more than tight and feminine stuff.

Which was a little bit of a put-off. But not by much.

And when he asked her _why_ she didn't like more feminine and flattering stuff, she made a disgusted face and then asked him, Why the hell would she? Her reasoning for not liking feminine clothing was because of the unwanted attention that she usually got.

It made her uncomfortable to be watched, hit on, asked out- and so on.

Which in a way was understandable. Some pretty girls hated the normal fashion trends of today and simply wanted to create their own individual look. It didn't stop them from being pretty or getting some unwanted attention. After all, any male with eyes and an ounce of common sense would be interested in her for her.

Not for her body.

Finally they reached her home- er, _former_ home. And Ichigo simply planted himself on the sidewalk with his hands in his pant's pockets and waited for the inevitable distress that losing her home would likely cause her. While Chad took up a spot next to him and watched anxiously.

The three had seen the yellow police tape the second that they had walked up, and Haruka had fallen oddly silent and then slowly broke away from them to go and check things out up close.

From where both Ichigo and Chad stood, they could see Haruka pull a piece of paper taped to the door of her former home and then slowly read it. After which, she simply rubbed her forehead with one hand, indicating a headache coming on and then slowly turned and walked back to them.

"Is everything alright?" Chad asked. Finally deciding to say something.

She looked up at him with those wide green eyes of hers, so full of sorrow and distress that he had to curl his hands into fists just to keep from reaching out and hugging her as she stammered out, "I-I need to go...uh..."

She still held the paper that had been taped to her door in her hand, and Ichigo carefully took it from her and looked it over. His expression turning fierce as he read what was on the letter before then asking her, "Do you know the place mentioned in this is?"

"I-I...uh...yes."

"Good. I'll call my dad and see if he'll let us borrow his car. Chad and I will help you move into a new place by the end of the day." He said as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and started to dial his dad's cell when Chad reached out and stopped him.

"_I'll call someone_. You're dad is likely busy at the moment with the clinic and can't leave. You call my landlord and see what it will take to be able to move her into my building." Chad said as he gave Ichigo a pointed look so that he'd understand that he should play along. Ichigo's lips twitched in amusement as he pretended to call Chad's landlord as Haruka stammered.

"B-But...I-I don't-" Chad reached out and gently framed his darling's face with his hands and ran the back of his knuckles along one of her cheeks before telling her that everything would be okay and then abruptly moving away to make his call.

* * *

Everything went according to plan, and true to their word- Haruka was moved into her new home by the end of the day. Walking into the apartment with the last box, Ichigo carefully set it down on the coffee table and then straightened his spine a little bit to scan the apartment for any signs of his and Chad's girl.

The poor thing had been so distraught by losing her home that she had barely managed to say more than two words to either of them even after they had helped her.

At present, he could hear Chad muttering something strangely akin to swear words in Spanish in the bedroom where he was supposed to putting her bed together. But Haruka herself was oddly MIA at the moment.

"Haruka?" He called out and then waited to see if she'd reply before making an irked sound and then slowly beginning to meander his way through the apartment, checking the other rooms to see if he could find her.

She was in the bedroom with Chad, though he could plainly see that she had checked out at some point and lain down on the carpeted floor and was curled up asleep in the corner, out of Chad's way. Sighing, Ichigo shook his head and then asked, "How long has she been like this?"

Chad turned to see what he was talking about since he hadn't realized that Haruka had been in the room with him. He frowned at her laying on the floor asleep and then looked back at Ichigo for a moment. "I'm not sure. She never said or did anything to get my attention."

Ichigo hummed thoughtfully. "She probably didn't want to bother you while you were putting the bed together and then just got too tired to wait anymore."

"It has been a long day." Chad pointed out softly, his eyes flickering back to their girl. His expression slightly worried. Ichigo seemed to know what he was thinking, and quickly tried to put his mind at ease.

"She's not going to get sick again so soon. She's still healing."

"We shouldn't have done this to her so soon," Chad sighed. "We could have waited until she was at least well again."

"Would you have been able to stand it if she had left the house earlier and not be close to you?"

"_Fuck no_. But you know what I mean."

"I do," Ichigo nodded before then asking him, "Is the bed done?"

"Yeah. It just needs some pillows and sheets."

"Cool. I'll go grab some and we'll fix the bed and then we'll tuck her in for the night."

Chad nodded his head in agreement and then slowly moved to pick her up off of the floor, not wanting her to sleep there any longer than she already had as Ichigo left the room and returned a moment or so later with his hands full of sheets, pillows and blankets.

It took less than ten minutes for him to fix the bed up for Haruka, after which Chad had stood up with her in his arms and carried her over and laid her down and took a moment to remove her shoes and set them aside before Ichigo pulled the covers up over her shoulders and then reached out to smooth some of her dark hair back from her face and crooned, "Our poor sweet girl. She must have been really tired to doze off like that in such an uncomfortable place."

"It's been an physically and emotionally draining day for her."

"Yeah, it has." Ichigo murmured in agreement before then sighing and saying, "What do you say we clear out some of the rest of the boxes, like for the kitchen and living room and then one of us go get her some meds and groceries since she lost everything that she had before at the other place."

"Sounds good."

"I could even spend the next few nights with you so that we can both keep an eye on our girl." Ichigo said with a wicked smile as he left the bedroom.

Chad hummed thoughtfully before then saying as he followed close at his heels, "That sounds _really_ good." Earning a small laugh from Ichigo before Chad grabbed him around the waist and then waited for him to tip his head back so that he could kiss him.


	6. Chapter 6

Niether boy bothered to leave the apartment more than an once or twice- and only for an hour. Once was to go mess around with Ichigo without disturbing her. And the other time was to go and get groceries for Haruka since her fridge and freezer were both empty.

During which time, Ichigo had stayed behind at the apartment to finish up straightening the living room and kitchen since they had made good progress and had managed to empty out some of the less invasive stuff.

And hooked up her TV and DVD player and her Roku box after moving around the living room furniture a little bit. Everything was neatly in place, the TV show box sets and movies. Her weird collection of American eighties and nineties music. Her CD's and portable radio.

Her book shelves, entertainment center, her little tables and lamps and chairs.

Even her kitchen was looking good. He'd managed to put up her pots and pans and dishes away in record time and had decided that once he was done for the night then he'd curl up on the couch together with Chad later on and they would both shift through Haruka's movie and music collections to satisfy their mutual curiosity.

It had been a couple of hours since Haruka had more or less passed out on them and Ichigo had just put some of the used boxes from the living room and kitchen away when he decided to go and check in on her for a second or so. Rubbing his hands against his jeans, he walked through the apartment, systematically cataloging how many boxes there were left to get rid of.

He counted at least ten or so. A majority of which was labelled **Work**. While at least two medium sized boxes were labeled, **Unmentionables**.

Which earned the two boxes a small frown from the teen as he wondered, _What kind of person refers to things as unmentionables anymore? _And then wondered if it was something that she had picked up from her grandparents? But then shrugged his shoulder's absently and then moved down the hallway to the bedroom.

Haruka was still sound asleep. Which was a miricle in and of itself- as well as being a testiment to just how _exhausted_ she must have really been earlier- as he silently slipped into the room. He knew that Chad worried that she might start getting sick again, and to be honest he had a good reason to.

Ichigo merely didn't say it out loud because he knew that if he did, their plans to be with her would be set back considerably. Depending on how his friend reacted.

Reaching out, he carefully placed a hand against her forehead to check her temperature and frowned a little bit when she felt warmer than necessary. Not bad like she had been for the past few days, just...warmer.

Humming softly, he then left for a moment to get her a glass of water and upon his return to the bedroom, quietly set it on the small table next to her bed and then looked her over. His warm amber eyes glowing golden yellow in the faint light of the room as he studied her.

Their girl was an achingly beautiful little thing. He mused to himself as he stood there. His hands itched to touch her and commit the softness of her skin to memory. His mouth watered a little bit in anticipation as he wondered just what she tasted like.

She smelled floral with an underlying scent of peaches and cinnamon.

Cocking his head slightly, he wondered if he could get away with a small taste to satisfy his curiosity. It didn't have to be anything big. He wasn't looking to fuck the poor girl while she was practically unconscious- he wasn't a _total_ monster, after all.

But something small would satisfy him and let her continue her rest. A kiss maybe?

Yeah, that would work. He thought to himself as he slowly and carefully moved in closer to the bed and then cautiously began to climb onto it. Careful to place his hands just so that he wasn't touching her overly much. The last thing that he needed was for her to awaken with his looming over her like this and scream in alarm or make an attempt to strike him.

Placing his hands on either side of her body, he licked his lips and then slowly leaned down until his mouth covered her own.

It was a more chaste kiss than he actually wanted, but he knew that he couldn't push for more. Not yet at least. Still...it was difficult for him to push back the sudden spark of desire that pulsed through his veins. Tilting his head ever so slightly, he shifted a little bit to lightly place a hand against her hip as he tasted her a little more thoroughly with his tongue. Some distant part of him was just a little bit shocked that she didn't wake or stir.

I mean, how could she not? Was having his tongue in her mouth really that unnoticeable at the moment?

She tasted like heaven. All sweet and spicy at the same time with a slight hint of honey. It was wonderful, and addictive and- The slight sound of a throat clearing had him quickly jerking his head up and his eyes locking with Chad's own.

His heart was beating like a drum, his blood rushing in his ears, and he was panting slightly.

Chad thinned his lips a little bit in displeasure at the uncharacteristic display of his fraying control and simply motioned with his head for Ichigo to leave. His friend didn't seem aware of it, or if he was, then he simply didn't care for the moment- but his eyes were _gold_ like his inner hollow's.

And that wasn't good since his darker half was likely driving him at the moment.

Tempting him into doing things that he normally didn't do.

Chad would have to take care of him and keep a closer eye on him for the rest of the night to make sure that he didn't try to do anything else to their girl. He didn't want Ichigo's inner hollow to drive him into doing something _horrible_ and _irreparably_ damaging.

Ichigo moved so fast that Chad was hard pressed to track him as he bounded off of the bed and quickly bolted out of the bedroom. Brushing by Chad as he went.

Chad stood there in the doorway for a moment longer, his eyes fixed on Ichigo's back until he rounded the small corner to the living room before then turning back to their girl with a small frown.

With Ichigo's control fraying like it was and his inner hollow dicking with his mind- then neither teen would be getting much sleep tonight once they finally settled down enough to even try. Ichigo would likely be beating himself up for his actions just now. And Chad knew better than to leave him alone or take his eyes off of him for long.

He just hoped that Haruka didn't find out.

Scrubbing his face with his hands, he heaved a sigh, and then gently closed the bedroom door and went to make sure that Ichigo hadn't run off and was only slightly relieved to find his friend sitting on the couch with his head in his hands.

"Is she okay?" He asked in a small tone full of regret.

"She's fine. You didn't do anything harmful." Chad said as he knelt down in front of the orange haired teen and gently took hold of his hands and pulled them away from his face so that he could see him a bit more clearly.

It wasn't like Ichigo not to meet his eyes when they spoke.

The smaller teen raised his head a little bit and finally looked at him once his hands were down. He looked...pale. Upset. His eyes were their normal warm amber again. And the fact that he was upset meant that his hollow had retreated for the moment.

"I could have hurt her." He said after a heart beat or so. Chad hummed, but didn't say anything because he knew that Ichigo was right. He could have hurt her in his prior state. However his friend was fixating on the 'what if's' for the moment and forgetting one very_ important_ detail.

He could have hurt their girl. But he didn't.

Not even with his inner hollow messing with his mind.

Chad wasn't one hundred percent certain if that was good or not, but he would take what he could get for the moment as Ichigo moved to lay his head on his shoulder and let Chad wrap his arms around him and muttered sullenly. "I nearly ruined everything."

"Nearly."

"I don't understand what the hell is wrong with me. I usually have better control than that."

"I know."

"You're sure that I didn't-"

"No. She's still sleeping."

"How could she not wake up from that? I _deserve_ to be slapped." Ichigo said. Chad merely hummed again and ran his fingers through Ichigo's hair in an effort to sooth him as he said offhandedly.

"Try not to worry about it overly much."

Ichigo snorted, "That's easier said than done."

"I know. But...try to let me worry about it from here on out."

"I want you to kick my ass the next time I overstep."

"I will." Chad promised him, meaning every word as Ichigo then muttered.

"You fucking better," And then said, "I found some stuff earlier that we can go through. You game?" Understanding that Ichigo needed a distraction for now, Chad nodded his head and released his friend and then watched him get up and bound across the room and grab a couple of boxes of stuff that he hadn't put away yet and then returned and flapped back down on the couch and handed Chad a box while he settled the other in his lap.


	7. Chapter 7

Ichigo didn't bother doing any Soul Reaper work that night.

After the way his inner hollow had messed with his head- it simply wasn't safe for him to even try. So instead he stayed in, and inevitably curled up with Chad on the floor after they had gone through Haruka's boxes. And found both an impressive- and alarming- collection of old home movies and American eighties and nineties music.

They'd both been curious about the home movies more than the music, and after a small debate with each other- had hunkered down together to watch some of them.

Haruka had been an_ adorable_ little kid.

She was all big, wide green eyes and curly dark hair and shy, pretty little smiles. That was one of the first things that they noticed from the movies. She always smiled.

She was a little bit of a goofball too. Not quite Orihime-level goofiness. But she could _definitely_ give the girl pointers on how to drive someone crazy.

She couldn't have been more than two in the first video and they'd already got a good feel for her personality when she had run up to someone who looked suspiciously like her mother, and had started saying 'Momma' really, really fast until the woman had turned and asked her if she needed anything. She'd shook her head no and looked all innocent. But the second that her mother had turned her back on her, she started up again earning some laughter from someone just beyond the camera.

Her dad maybe?

They'd seen several different facets of her life as a child. The toddler phase was definitely a treat. But not nearly as eye opening as the video of her singing at a school event when she was five.

She'd been dressed in a frilly light green and lace little monstrosity that barely reached her knees, her long hair had been pulled back into a ponytail that curled in little spirals this way and that. And she'd been fidgeting. _Badly_.

Her tiny little hands had been oddly facinated with moving her dress's skirt however she could. And when she had been called on to do her part of the performance, she had done it while weirdly playing with the skirt of her dress while she sang- they could tell by her facial expression that she was off in her own little world right then- so it didn't really surprise them- it _amused_ them more than anything- when at the end of her performance the skirt of her dress wound up being flipped over her head.

Eliciting hysterical laughter from everyone present in the stands as she was quickly collected by an embarrassed teacher and shuffled off of the stage.

Both Ichigo and Chad, hadn't been able to hold back their laughter. That part of the video had been both so damned cute and hilariously funny that they simply couldn't stop themselves.

The next part of the video had shown her and whom they assume was her friend Robin together. It must have been Halloween at the time. Because there were little kids dressed up as various monsters, vampires, ghosts, and princesses.

Haruka was standing next to her friend, who was a cute little brunette that could have easily passed for her sister. The two of them looked so eerily similar.

Haruka didn't have a costume, though she had no problem doing Robin's make-up for hers and making her look like Frankenstein's monster. Which was funny considering how the girl's mom reacted to Robin's creepy make-up job.

Another thing that they noticed was that she sang. It wasn't always at school functions- and the ones that she did sing at; she wore pants to. Which meant that her parents had learned their lesson with the dress-skirt-over-her-head incident.

She had a pretty voice when she did sing. Powerful, and so _beautiful_ and sweet that people couldn't help but stop what they were doing and pay attention to her.

She favored eighties and nineties music. Which was understandable given her large collection of the stuff. She was bi-lingual too. And could sing in not just English, or Japanese, but in Chinese, and Spanish too.

Which was awesome. Chad especially liked hearing her sing in Spanish. The moment that she started her first Spanish song, his eyes simply lit up as if he'd been given some priceless gift.

It was great.

Another things that they learned was that she could play instruments. The piano, harmonica, flute, violin, the guitar- hell they girl could even play the drums. And she was damned good at all of them too.

There was a part of the video where she walked up onto a stage at a mall, with her friend Robin in tow. The two of them carrying guitars. nd before that part of the video had ended, the two girls had played a really cool sounding metal version of Devil Went Down to Georgia.

Both teens couldn't stop grinning, even after that part of the video was done. Haruka had just literally blown them away.

The next few parts of the video were small pieces shot behind closed doors between Haruka and her friend Robin. At first glance they weren't very informative. And yet at the same time they gave them a glimpse of her personality as she got older.

_"What'cha doing?"_ Robin asked as she walked up behind Haruka who was sitting on the bank of what looked like a creek with a fishing pole in her hand.

_"Fishing."_ Came Haruka's simple, if somewhat muffled reply as she frowned down at the murky waters. The camera moved a little bit and then settled again so that they got a better look of Haruka's expression. She looked like she was about eleven or twelve at the time this part of the video was made.

_"You realize that there are nothing in there but snakes, right?" _

_"Oh I know. I've already tangled with a few." _Haruka said as she absently pointed to the side of her. The camera shifted a little bit again and they heard Robin shout,

_"Holy shit!"_ As four or five dead snakes were spotted on the creek's bank a few feet away when Robin suddenly asked. _"None of them bit you right?" _

_"What if they did?" _

_"Are you fucking- At least three of those things are poisonous!" _

Haruka shrugged her slender shoulders. _"Doesn't matter." _

_"What the hell- of course it matters! Yo could die!" _

_"Then go away and let me." _

_"Huh?!" _

Sitting up a little bit straighter, the two boys stared at the video, hard. Trying to figure out what had caused the radical shift in their girl. She wasn't smiling. She wasn't crying- she looked..._different_. As if something had happened to completely overwhelm her to the point where she had become...sad?

What had happened? They both wondered as Robin had put the camera down someplace and could be seen at a slight distance grabbing their girl by the front of her shirt and hauling her up so that she was standing and grabbed one of her arms and looked at it. Her expression going from outraged to horrified in the span of seconds as she held Haruka's arm, wrist up and then looked at her, her face pale as she asked through gritted teeth. _"How many times?" _

And when Haruka didn't respond, she growled, bent down and tossed her over her shoulder and then turned and ran screaming for help.

To say that the two boys were _rattled_ by what they had just seen was a gross understatement as Chad reached over and absently grasped Ichigo's hand in his own as the video started up again.

Haruka was the same age as before.

She'd had her hair cut up to her shoulders in a bob style and was wearing a black formal suit with a navy blue tie. From the looks of her surroundings, and somber expression, she was at a funeral when the video started up.

Robin's voice sounded from the other side of the camera._ "You knew, didn't you."_ It wasn't really a question. Haruka looked at her, her expression guarded, her green eyes were dull and listless.

_"I did." _There was an angry bite to her tone that they had never heard before.

_"Why didn't you say something?" _

_"What the hell makes you think that I didn't? The fact that I'm still alive, and my family isn't." _

_"I- No, that isn't what I meant." _

_"I know." _Haruka's voice softened a bit. _"And I tried. I tried to get them to listen for months. They just shrugged me off as being stupid or something. They didn't want to listen and now they're all dead. And I'm alone..." _She was sobbing by this point, tears slipping down her pale face as she lowered her head.

_"You're not alone Yuki. I'm not going to leave you." _

_"Don't make promises that you can't keep." _Haruka snapped at her. Her expression fierce.


	8. Chapter 8

**Lime.**

* * *

After the last part of the first video- Ichigo turned the DVD off and then looked at Chad and asked him if he wanted to keep going or not. Chad seemed to mull things over before then nodding his head and waited for Ichigo to put another one in and rejoin him before he pressed the play button on the remote and wrapped an arm around Ichigo's shoulders.

The fact that their girl had tried to kill herself in the previous video was nagging at his mind as the next one started.

It took them both a moment to realize that this wasn't exactly a home movie. It was a job video diary that revealed Haruka's job as a professional musician. They shouldn't have been surprised to know that their girl was in the music industry. Especially given how much she liked to sing and stuff. But for some reason- it did surprise them.

And she was fucking _awesome_ at her job.

Not just the singing and playing the instruments, but the dancing and the acting too. The DVD contained a few music video's, interviews on some TV shows, and even a couple of behind the scene looks at her work.

The first music video had her wearing a sheer white ankle length dress and dancing on a car in the 'rain'. _A car! In the rain!_ The two of them couldn't have gaped any harder at the video if they tried. And by the time the video ended, both of them were sporting fucking hard-on's and were squirming around a little bit in discomfort.

The second video had her and Robin together at a bar, shooting pool. Both dressed to the nines and looking utterly delectable in mini skirts and tight form fitting shirts that emphasized the size of their breasts and the flatness of their stomachs.

Robin was wearing a black cowboy hat pulled down over her eyes and her long chocolate brown hair had been cut and styled to be more flattering to her features. And Haruka was bent over with a pool stick in her hands which gave them an enticing view of her breasts and her nice round bottom.

The entire tone of the video was flirtatious and sexy.

And by the end of it both Ichigo and Chad were having more than a hard time containing themselves. Their whole bodies felt as if they were on fire. So much so that they were certain that watching another video would somehow manage to actually_ kill_ them.

So they did what any sane couple of teenage males would do- and with great reluctance- they turned the DVD off for the time being and decided to try and take care of each other's problem.

* * *

Haruka woke up around five or so and quietly climbed out of her bed before pausing to wonder how she had wound up in bed in the first place. She vaguely recalled sitting down in the corner of the room at some point yesterday and watching...what's his name again?

Chad? Yeah, that was it- working on putting her bed together. Not because it was particularly fascinating or anything, but because she had wanted to be somewhere fairly quiet and...he just happened to be in the room too.

Not that that there had been anything wrong with that. The guy barely made any sound when he moved. The only time he had made a few noises was when he had been cursing in Spanish and growling.

_Growling!_

Like an animal or something. The sound was deep and rumbling and sounded like quiet thunder just before a storm. It was a sound that warning, and promised all kinds of violence. And if her head hadn't been hurting quiet so much she might have actually asked him if he growled like that often.

It was shiver inducing and neat and...it had made her feel safe for some reason.

Was it weird that she liked his growl? She wondered to herself as she moved away from the bed with a small frown. Guessing that Chad and his friend had both put her to bed once they had realized that she had fallen asleep. She hoped that she hadn't put the boys out or anything.

She already felt the urge to apologize.

Sighing, she went about her normal morning routine. She showered, and dressed in some clean clothes that she had put up in the bedroom yesterday _before_ Chad had decided to tackle the task of fixing her bed. And once she was done, she walked out of the bedroom and headed towards the living room to see what all she had left to put away.

At first glance, from the hallway, the living room was already neatly arranged and her things put mostly away. Which made her smile a little bit as she made a mental note to do something nice for the boys the next time she ran into them and then she turned the corner and..._froze up._ Her mind coming to a screeching halt at the sight before her.

And who could blame her?

The sight of the two teens stretched out on her couch, their shirts either off or unbuttoned, their bodies grinding against one another, their skin and hair damp with sweat would have stopped just about _anyone_. Honestly if she could ever figure out how to draw more than stick people, she would have sat down and sketched them.

Her mouth dry, her heart in her throat, she wondered what exactly she should be doing here. Should she just turn and leave until they were done? Or- Any and all thoughts of leaving fled her mind the moment that both sets of eyes managed to find her and lock on her person.

_Jesus flipping-_ She felt as if she had just locked eyes with a couple of predators! The two didn't blink, didn't do much of anything aside from simply pin her in place and _watch_ her for a moment as a loud rumbling growl vibrated in Chad's chest. The sound was a little less safe sounding than his growls had been the day before, but no less shiver inducing and- _OMFG!_ Was she getting wet?

This was wrong, this was wrong, this was very, very, _very_ wrong!

"Haruka…" One breathless, soft voice said. She couldn't tell which of them had spoke. In truth she hadn't been paying attention to their lips so much. So she was more than a little bit flummoxed when the bigger of the two let the smaller teen up and she suddenly found herself backed into the nearest wall by the prowling male.

The second that her back hit the wall, his lips curved up in a sensual smile and he placed his hands on either side of her body, conveniently boxing her in as he purred, "Haruka…" Oh dear god- he'd been the one who spoke before! She thought in a panic as he leaned in a little bit and buried his face in the side of her neck and just breathed for a moment before she felt his lips skimming along her throat up to her ear before he spoke again. "Join us."

She made a strained sound as he took her ear into his mouth and lightly sucked on it before gently nipping it with sharp teeth. The heady feeling of his presence so close to her and...well other things- not totally excluding his mouth on her skin- made her entire brain shut down and her knees feel so weak that they buckled on her, and she would have fallen if he hadn't have caught her and gathered her up in his arms with a soft chuckle of amusement.

Her head spun and she clung to him as he carried her back over to his friend and gently laid her down on the couch in the same exact spot where he had been several moments prior and carefully pried her arms from around his neck and he shared a weird look with his friend before one of them leaned over to take possession of her mouth. Causing her to do a little full body jerk since the action was somewhat unexpected, while large hands gently began to tug at her clothing eliciting a _whine _from her in complaint.

She might be okay with messing with them if they really wanted her there, but she did _not_ want to lose her virginity like this. For god's sake that belonged to her future husband!

Warm hands ran along her newly bared skin. Cupping her bra clad breasts, gently teasing her nipples before moving down to her stomach and then her hips.

She heard Chad's rumbling voice comment that she was too thin, and was vaguely aware of a low hum of agreement from the one kissing her before he finally tore his mouth away from hers so that he could run his own hands along her body too while she lay there panting.

She might have tried to say something- maybe, if not for the fact that a hot and hungry mouth latched onto one of her breasts. She cried out from the shock of it and arched her back as someone slipped their hand underneath her body and held her in that position before their mouth took her other breast.

She had started to move one of her hands to cover her mouth to stifle any noise that she might make at one point- however her hands were grabbed and quickly pinned underneath someone's knees as one of the boys- Ichigo? Lifted his head away from her breast and gave her a fierce look before growling that she wasn't _allowed_ to stifle any sound that she might make.

_They wanted to hear her_.

She felt tears of embarrassment begin to well up as Ichigo's friend finally managed to tear himself away from her other breast, leaving the small nub of her nipple sensitive and aching and then shifted himself so that he was lower. Her pants and panties were tugged down and she felt the first stirring of alarm course though her.

Causing her to thrash around for a moment and cry harder.

One of them made a irked sound upon having her suddenly start to struggle and she was grabbed and partially jerked upright against a muscular torso, her wrists held tightly in a near bruising grip across her chest as a low voice growled threateningly for her to stop and just watch.

She froze up again, not really understanding what she was supposed to watch as Chad gently ran his large hands along her bare legs. She jumped a little bit at the contact, not knowing what he was doing and could do nothing but stare at him through wide frightened eyes as he leaned down and began to kiss his way up to her sex.

Her breath came faster, and she felt faint as he looked up at her face for a moment before lowering his head to her and began to lick her. She jerked again, this time more violently upon the contact of his tongue against her most secret place.

She wasn't aware of much else after that aside from her wrists being released and Ichigo's voice next to her ear telling her- in-between pressing tender kisses to her shoulder, the side of her neck and her cheek- that she was okay.

They weren't going to hurt her, she was okay.

And she was.

Neither boy made any attempt to force themselves on her. In fact they were fairly gentle with her and made her feel good. So much so that she must have blacked out. Because one moment she could feel a strange tightening in her lower body and the next...she wasn't aware of anything at all.


	9. Chapter 9

After Haruka fainted, Chad finished licking away the remnants of her juices up and then carefully collected her in his arms and settled her so that she was sitting in his lap, with her head resting on the hollow of his shoulder, and wrapped his shirt around her slender shoulders.

She was trembling so much that he couldn't help the swell of masculine pride that he felt at being able to bring their girl such pleasure as Ichigo seated himself next to him and gently placed her feet in his lap.

"She looks...happy." He said after a moment or so of thought. Chad's lips quirked a little bit and he hummed in agreement. Their girl _did_ look happy. All blissed out and content with little aftershocks from her orgasm causing her to shake and twitch her small body from time to time.

She had a beautiful pink flush to her face that was just breathtaking.

"I didn't expect her to give in so easily." Ichigo said next, a small frown marring his face as he lightly grasped one of her feet in his hands and started to massage it. In truth, if the two of them were perfectly honest, niether of them had really expected Haruka to cave to Ichigo's earlier minstrations so easily.

Chad had been watching the two since Ichigo had gotten up and cornered her against the wall. She had looked just slightly alarmed. Maybe a little bit turned on. _Definitely confused_. And most definitely torn between staying and running.

All of which were perfectly understandable if he was right about her. And he was fairly certain that he was. After all, the only people that he knew of that tended to be seduced so easily were usually innocent.

Either in body or in mind.

"Why do you think she gave in like she did?"

"The reason could have been any number of things. Maybe she was curious, or overwhelmed, or maybe she just felt..."

"An attraction?" Ichigo supplied helpfully. Chad hummed again and nodded his head slightly.

"Yeah, maybe. People usually use their instincts when their drawn to something or someone. Some of them simply can't help it. Depending on how in touch with them- they are, they can't stop themselves from allowing their instincts to guide them. That's what we do. We don't know how to _function_ any other way." Chad said gently as he looked at Ichigo.

"So what drew you to me?" Ichigo asked curiously.

"You can take me." Chad said with a salacious/feral looking smile. Ichigo snorted as his shoulders shook a little bit with mirth, figuring that Chad would be drawn to him for such a reason before his friend asked,

"What drew you to me?"

"You're kind," Ichigo said without thought. "Even when you're trying to be cruel- I can't get over how kind you are."

"What do you think-"

"Attracts her? I noticed early on while she was sick, that she likes it when you growl," Ichigo said with a grin as Chad blinked at him. His expression more than a little bit bemused as he then went on to say. "She tended to curl up really close to you whenever you would growl. I think the sound makes her feel safe or something."

Chad blushed as Ichigo sniggered at him before telling him that it was nothing to embarrassed about. Having her like it when he growled could actually work in his favor since he tended to growl more than a normal person should. Chad merely looked away from him and ran his fingers through Haruka's hair.

A faint smile curving his lips for a moment before it slipped away and he said softly, "She was scared of us."

Ichigo paused massaging her feet for a moment to look at his friend and then quickly dropped his eyes and took a deep breath before replying. "Yeah, she was."

"She thought that we were going to-"

"For a second or so, yeah."

"I don't like that she thought that we would hurt her like that." Chad said, his voice taking on a rumbling quality.

"I didn't like it much either, big guy."

"She's so small..."

"I know."

"She needs us to _protect_ her and take _care_ of her." Chad said in a fierce tone. Ichigo looked back up at him for a moment and then nodded his head in agreement as he muttered.

"Yeah. Yeah she does."

"Anyone who touches her or tries to take her from us will _die_ screaming." Chad said in a vicious tone as he ran his fingers through her hair again.

Ichigo's expression turned savage at the mere thought of someone touching her or taking her away from them as he silently agreed. Anyone who so much as _dared_ would do more than just die screaming. They'd die bloody and broken and begging for their life.

There were some perks to being a Soul Reaper, after all.

One of which was that if Chad couldn't kill someone- then he could.

"You're damned right they will," Ichigo finally said earning a look of maniacal glee from his friend before asking out of the blue, "Does this mean that we're dating?"

Chad's expression softened a bit as his eyes flickered to Ichigo. He had a weirdly thoughtful look on his face. As if it had never occurred to him that they would wind up dating. It might have been hurtful if Chad hadn't known him so well. But in that moment- it was just funny.

"We fuck enough," Chad said with a slight shrug. "We might as well."

"There's more to relationships than just fucking." Ichigo said as he scrunched up his nose a little bit. Chad gave him a devilish smile.

"I know."

"Does this mean that we're an exclusive trio?"

"Yes."

"Really? So who's going to marry Haruka?"

"I am." Chad deadpanned. That was one thing that wasn't up for discussion or debate. Haruka was going to be _his_ wife and one day wear his ring. The possessive side of him, as well as his honor would allow for nothing less. Not if he was going to keep her.

As Ichigo had said before- they didn't attach themselves to people short term. Their attachments were for life. If they weren't in it for the long haul- then they simply didn't get attached. _Period_.

"You're a greedy bastard, aren't you." Ichigo said in a teasing tone before sighing and saying, "I guess that means that I'm you're mistress."

"No."

"No?"

"You're not my mistress, Ichigo."

"Oh? I'm not? Wait! This better not be how you propose a three way marriage! I may be you're boyfriend now but I expect romance, man." Chad had to cover his mouth to keep himself from laughing hysterically at Ichigo's scowling face. Ichigo nudged him with his elbow and then continued, "I mean it, Chad. I expect romance. Flowers. Dates. Making out at school. Holding hands. Holidays-_ Oh!_ We have to do holidays! Christmas, Valentines day- Anniversaries and birthdays too." Chad lowered his hand away from his mouth and looked at Ichigo searchingly for a moment before Ichigo stammered out awkwardly with a blush, "I-It's important. Lovers do those kinds of things."

"Alright. If it's that important, then that's what we'll do."

Ichigo gave him a blinding smile and leaned against his side for a moment. "Thank you." Chad nodded, his lips curved in a small smile as he wrapped an arm around his shoulders and gave him a small squeeze as Ichigo switched feet and started to massage Haruka's other one.


	10. Chapter 10

Haruka came back to awareness to the feel of a large hand combing through her hair and the feel of strong fingers kneading the bottom of her foot. Groaning as a small frown flit across her face as she heard a masculine voice say almost absently, "Welcome back sweetheart. You feel okay? You were out longer than we expected."

"I- What? W-What happened?" She asked as the hand in her hair, paused it's soothing combing motion as she tried to move to sit up a little bit straighter.

"Hold up, don't move yet," Ichigo said with a small frown. He wasn't done with her foot yet and wasn't feeling like giving it up just yet as he glanced over at her as Chad shifted her position a little bit to sit her up before hesitantly asking. "Do you remember anything from before you fainted?"

"I..." She started to say that she didn't recall much when the memories hit her with all the subtltey of a truck. "Oh god," She groaned as she lifted her hands to cover her face and asked, "Did that really happen?"

"Yes." The boys said in unison.

"So the three of us-"

"Yes." Both boys said in unison, again.

"A-And I fainted?"

"Yes." This time they didn't speak in unison, this time only one of them replied. The deep timber of the voice closest to her ear, told her that it was Chad.

"How embarrassing." She muttered as she peeked at the two from between her fingers for a moment before finally dropping her hands away from her face.

"It's not something that you should be embarrassed about, Yuki." Ichigo said as he reluctantly, _very_ reluctantly in her opinion, released the foot that he'd been massaging and then sighed before lightly saying. "I'm going to go and start fixing us all something for breakfast. Especially since you haven't eaten anything since yesterday morning." She blinked at him as he stood up and then took a moment to lean over her and press his lips to Chad's before then turning and quickly pressing a kiss to her own and then disappearing into the kitchen.

Leaving Chad alone to help Haruka sort out her thoughts.

"W-Why would he- Why would you- What the hell is going on?!" Haruka said in a confused tone.

Noting how close her tone was to distressed he nipped lightly at the side of her throat, eliciting a startled squeak from her before he growled._ "Calm down."_ As he began to brush her hair back from her face again in an effort to help her. But it didn't work.

Instead of helping to calm her down, she only seemed to grow more agitated until she finally snapped and pushed herself from his lap and nearly tripped over her own feet as she moved away from him.

"Haruka-" He started to get up to go after her when she pointed at him and almost shouted.

"_No!_ No, stay there." Causing him to hesitate. "Please...I just- Oh god, what the hell is wrong with me?" She wondered aloud, her expression uncertain as she muttered in a panicked tone, "God I'm a slut..."

_Okay, now that is crossing a line_. He thought darkly as he stood up and quickly closed in on her before she realized that he had even moved. And by the time she did realize it- it was far too late for her to run. He grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and shook her a little bit as he bit out from between tightly clenched teeth, "You. Are. Not. A. Slut!"

His tone must have caught Ichigo's attention, because one second he was in the kitchen and the next he was standing a few inches from the two of them watching them both with a worried expression.

"Chad?"

"She thinks she's a slut Ichigo! She thinks that what happened before is in some way wrong- that_ she's_ in some way wrong!"

"Okay. Okay, calm down big guy. I don't think that she meant it the way that it probably sounded," Ichigo said softly as he reached out and carefully pried Chad's hands from Haruka's shoulders. Their girl was becoming scared again, and that simply wouldn't do because of how much it would devastate them both if it continued. "Go make sure that the food doesn't burn for me, and I'll sort this out." Ichigo said as he finally managed to get Chad to let Haruka go.

Chad gave them both a saddened/tormented look and then curtly nodded his head and walked off.

Ichigo sighed and scrubbed his face with his hands and then looked at her. The poor girl was shaking like a leaf. Which was understandable considering that she had just been on the receiving end of Chad's temper.

"Are you okay, Yuki? He didn't accidentally hurt you did he?"

"I- N-No. I'm shaken, mostly." She said in a trembling tone as he reached out and gently tugged her against his body and wrapped his arms around her as she started to sob. He muttered something barely audible as he rubbed her back as she sobbed out, "I don't understand... W-Why was he so angry with me?"

"It's because you think that you're a slut," Ichigo said softly. "What happened earlier was wonderful and beautiful and he didn't like that you felt...like you've done something shameful. It's _hurtful_ to the two of us, and even more so to you if you keep thinking that way." He said in an effort to make her understand.

"But-"

"No," He said firmly. "Don't argue and don't say anything else _demeaning_ about yourself._ I don't like it_. And neither does Chad."

"But I-"

"What? What is it?" He prompted, his curiosity piqued.

"I-I still don't understand..."

Ichigo hummed softly as he gave her a light squeeze before then slowly releasing her so that he could look her in the eye. Her eyes were red rimmed from her distress and crying. Her face was tear stained. But even more noticeable than that was her confusion.

She really didn't understand what was going on. He might have actually kicked himself if he hadn't been so damned upset by that one little fact.

"You can't possibly be that naïve," He muttered as he studied her for a moment before getting a gobsmacked look on his face and felt his jaw drop open in disbelief. _"O-Oh."_ He squeaked once he was finally able to speak again.

She was frowning at him, still not understanding what was going on and Ichigo- well he was floundering for some sort of explanation for her. But words were failing him. _Horribly. _

Deciding that Chad had had enough time to cool down, Ichigo did the only thing that he could logically think of. He beat a hasty retreat, and unceremoniously shoved Chad out of the kitchen and growled at him to _explain_ things to their girl before she started thinking something stupid again.

Chad blinked at him and wondered what the hell his problem was when Ichigo took a moment to flat out hiss at him that Haruka didn't seem to _understand_ that they wanted her. As a couple. Or trio, rather.

To be perfectly honest Ichigo said 'couple' in an effort to help Chad understand better. But since he was feeling more than a little bit _distraught_ and he wasn't sure if he had gotten his point across as he should have.

Thankfully, his friend was the kind of person that could easily read between the lines. So he understood very well what had Ichigo so upset. Sighing, he ran his fingers through his messy dark, curly hair and then slowly made his way back into the living room.

Haruka was sitting on the couch when he entered the room. Her head was down, her arms wrapped around her stomach- she looked_ dejected_. Had they done that to her? He wondered idly as he moved to sit on the coffee table across from her.

She glanced at him, but only long enough to see who he was and then she looked back down again.

"My first question is, did I hurt you any before?"

"No."

"That's good..." He said in a relieved tone. "I shouldn't have reacted to you misunderstanding things like that."

"What's to misunderstand? The situation pretty much speaks for itself, doesn't it?"

"No. Not really. Haruka, you aren't what you think you are. We never meant to make you feel as if you were...a slut. Though I'm still trying to figure out why you would think that way. Ichigo and I, we both _like_ you. Very much." She lifted her head just enough for him to see the doubtful look on her face that made his heart ache.

"What do you mean?" She finally asked, her tone still confused.

"Ichigo and I have decided to try dating-"

"Congradulations."

"No, you don't understand-"

"What's not to understand? You're dating."

"Yes, but we want to date you too."

He really had her attention then. Her head snapped up so fast that her neck actually popped as an unintelligible,_ "Huh?"_ escaped her. His lips twitched a little bit as he caught sight of Ichigo peeking out of the kitchen to check on them and see how things were going.

"We want to date you too. The _both_ of us. If you think you'd be interested that is."

Haruka stared at him with an unfathomable look on her pretty face as he patiently waited for her to respond when she opened her mouth for a moment and squeaked out, "I-I think I have questions."


	11. Chapter 11

"Okay so... You and Ichigo want to be in a three-way relationship with me." It wasn't a question. She'd already asked all of those that she could think of several minutes prior. Now she was just trying to wrap her head around the concept of a three way relationship with what she had dubbed them earlier, much to Chad's amusement- two_ incredibly_ hot and dangerous guys.

He hummed as he propped his chin in his hand and simply watched her emotions flit from one thing to another. She was so easy to read that he couldn't stop himself from simply watching her so that he could commit her expressions to memory as she finally said, "Can I get to know the two of you a little bit first? A three way relationship would be difficult if I don't at least know you guys a little bit. There would be mistakes and-"

"So you want a trial period to see if the three of us are compatible?" Chad asked as he mulled things over a little bit. While a trial period was both a _good_ idea and a _mistake_ of epic proportions. But he couldn't help but agree to it anyways. If only to ease her into things a little bit so that she would be more comfortable with the two of them.

"How long do you want the trial period to be?" He asked curiously, hoping that she wouldn't ask for an outrageous amount of time. She frowned a little bit as she thought it over and then said,

"How about a month? It's not too long- the three of us could do...uh...couple...stuff together. Go on dates and such. It would give all of us a chance to become more comfortable, and just in case either of you decide to change you're minds. Things can be called off- no hard feelings. And it would make me feel less like I'm stinging you along if things don't work out."

It was a reasonable and acceptable amount of time. A month to woo and romance her wasn't such a bad thing. If only to show her that they were both very kind and caring, men. It would also give them an excuse to come over to her place as often as possible and keep an eye on her and protect her.

"Alright. A month it is."

"Cool... So what do we do now?" She asked anxiously.

"We have breakfast together."

"Alright."

"And if there's anything you want to do after... Then we'll do that," Chad said before then asking. "Is there anything that you need to do? It could be our first date."

"O-Oh, um… I was going to go and check on my grandparents today. Unless I'm mistaken, then today should be the day before their wedding anniversary." Chad blinked and perked up a little bit in interest.

"How many years?"

"Sixty seven."

He let out a whistle of astonishment. "That's a long time to be married."

"Yeah, it is. They've been sweethearts since they were practically in diapers. Mam used to tell me stories when all of us were younger about how Pap first asked her to marry him, when they were ten- after beating up a kid who made her cry," Chad's brows rose a little bit as he listened. "According to her, he was really sweet to her after he saved her. He took her out for ice cream, walked her home, and gave her her first kiss on the porch in front of her two protective older brothers. Who followed him when he left, and gave him the shovel talk." Chad bit his lower lip to keep from flat out laughing while trying to imagine some poor little kid with a crush getting a shovel talk from some older kids.

"What do you usually do for their anniversary?"

"I used to cook them dinner. We'd have a nice, country style fish dinner. Mam taught me how to cook when I was younger- so I'm pretty good at cooking and stuff."

"So what do you plan to do if you don't cook for them?"

"I'll get a cake, some snacks, their favorite food from a really nice local place- and we'll all just have a party." She said with a small shrug.

"It sounds fun."

"I hope so."

"Ichigo and I have never been to a party like that before."

"Are you sure that you want to go? Mam and Pop are...kind of out there."

"Yeah. I wanna go," Chad said with a quirk of his lips before then calling out, "Hey Ichigo! Wanna go to a wedding anniversary party for a first date?"

Ichigo poked his head out of the kitchen for a moment and asked, "Who's wedding anniversary?"

"Haruka's mam and pop's."

Surprise flitted across Ichigo's face for a moment before he asked, Really?" Followed by. "_Sure_. We'll go and find them something nice after breakfast."

"Sounds good. Haruka? Does that sound okay with you?"

"It's sounds fine... Thanks."

"No problem sweetheart." Chad said softly.

Breakfast was a semi quiet affair, but no less pleasant. Before sitting down, Ichigo walked up to her and slipped an arm around her slender shoulders and asked if she was okay knowing that the conversation that she'd just had was likely an emotionally draining one.

She'd offered him a small smile and then taken her seat and dug into her food, suddenly feeling famished. During the meal Ichigo and Chad had both asked a ton of questions about her grandparents likes and dislikes. All of which she answered to the best of her ability since her grandparents were finicky now that they weren't...all there.

After breakfast, Chad had washed the dishes and then both boys had cornered her so that they could get a kiss and then had left the apartment to go and clean themselves up since they needed a bath and clean clothing and such. Both promising that they would be back within an hour so that they could go out and get their shopping done before going to the home to throw her grandparents their party.


	12. Chapter 12

True to their word, both teens returned before an hour was up, freshly bathed and dressed and waiting on her to join them as she slipped out of her apartment and started to walk down the stairs to meet them as Ichigo asked. "Do you know what you want to get for you're grandparents as a gift?"

"I'm getting Mam some flowers and some costume jewelry and maybe a bottle of perfume. Pap...is a little bit more difficult to shop for. But he might like a few books."

"That seems a little bit boring," Ichigo said with a frown. Haruka gave him a small, strained smile that had him quickly backtracking a bit. "Uh...I-I didn't mean- boring as in bad, just-" She waved his words off as Chad reached out and quietly slipped his hand around hers and gave it a little squeeze as they started to walk.

"I know that my choice of presents are far from nice, especially given the occasion. But bear in mind that my grandparents are old, and very _senile_, and can't have anything that can be used as a deadly weapon. I'm serious about that. It's not just for their safety but for the general public's as well."

"Oh... _Sorry_." Ichigo said with a slight cringe earning a chastising look from Chad from over the top of her head.

"It's alright. I know that you didn't mean anything by it." She said as she looked down for a moment. "If you really want to get them something nice, try for something practical that they can use without endangering themselves and others."

"Like what?" Chad asked curiously.

"Well, like I said before- The two of them are pretty out of touch with reality. So they often forget things like eating. In the past six months since they were put in the home, their bodies have become dangerously thin and they stay cold all the time. So for practical use, I usually get them soft fluffy PJ's, socks, coats, and blankets. Mam's skin breaks out into rashes and stuff so I get her lotions and special moisturizing soaps for bathing and such. I also keep them in Bengay. For aching muscles and joints. Mam practically takes bathes herself in the stuff." Haruka said with an amused smile.

Both Ichigo and Chad's lips twitched a little bit as she went on.

"Pap is a complex and complicated creature who loves crossword puzzles, history books and funny movies. He also likes chasing after the young nurses, flirting outrageously, and candies- mostly butterscotch. But he likes chocolates too. He also likes to- and I'm not even joking about this- writing smutty fantasy stories set back in the sixteen hundreds."

The two boys flat out laughed at that.

"So he's sort of a dirty old man." Chad said with a grin.

"One of the worst." Haruka confirmed with a giggle.

"Okay! I know what I'm getting for your Mam and Pap." Ichigo announced after a moment or so, once his laughter had finally died down.

"Do tell." Chad prompted encouragingly.

"Pap, is getting a couple of fantasy books to read, a few note pads and pencils to use to write his stories in. And Mam...I'll get her some nice lavender perfume and... Can she have nick-knacks?"

"Yes. Small ones. She has a shelf to put them in."

"Alright, there's this small crystal swan in a boutique not far from here. It's really nice and has a crystal flower bottom attached to it. Do you think she might like that?"

"I don't see why not," Haruka said with a small shrug. "The grocery store is just up ahead if you guys want to slip up and go get you're stuff while I get the snacks, cake and stuff. We can meet back here in about an hour and then go straight to the home."

Both boys mulled over her words for several moments before then nodding and giving her a quick kiss on both of her cheeks and then separated from her to go and get their gifts for her grandparents.

Chad was done in less than ten minutes. The jerk had gone straight into the nicest store that he could afford and bought two nice soft throw blankets, some scarves, and feety pajama's. The new kind that were made out of fleece and could kill a person from heat stroke even in sub zero temperatures.

He'd gotten blue and green ones for Pap. And pink and purple ones for Haruka's Mam.

Whereas Ichigo, usually when he went shopping for some sort of gift for someone, was a little bit of a perfectionist. Oh, he still got the crystal swan that he had mentioned before. But he also got Mam a nice music box with pretty mother of pearl inlay on the lid.

And a nice looking fold out picture frame that he was going to ask Haruka if she had any pictures of the two so that they could put the pictures in the frame and place them somewhere nice for the couple.

He also found and bought a cute big, blue eyed stuffed toy white wolf.

He knew that some elders tended to like stuffed animals because some of them maybe reminded them of animals that they'd had in their youth. Pets, both loved and lost. If nothing else, it would give the couple the illusion of the kind of companionship that an actual animal would give.

And at least they wouldn't have to worry about forgetting to feed it or take it out for walks.

So...that was something at least. Plus it would be easier on their old bones than an actual pet would be. Though he was planning to run an idea for a kitten or a puppy by Chad sometime in the near future so that the two of them and Haruka could have a pet together.

He figured that between the three of them- at least the poor thing would have someone to watch over it, water it, feed it and keep it company. And knowing Chad like he did, his boyfriend would likely monopolize it's affections shamelessly every time that he got his hands on it.


End file.
